Digital Pianos & Internal Speaker Systems | REPORT 2023 | Learn!

There are some digital pianos that are called portable “stage” digital pianos. They are mostly used by musicians or other players who want a portable instrument without internal speakers because they are either playing music on stage at some venue which has their own external speaker system and external monitors or that musician only wants to use external speakers for some other reason such as having a sound guy at an external mixing board running sound remotely so that he can adjust volumes, etc for the audience to hear it good… like in a big stadium, concert hall, church, or other large venues. 

Having a “stage” digital piano does not necessarily make that piano better than other digital pianos which have internal speakers, but a stage type digital piano may have certain functions or features on it that could be more appealing to that particular player or pro musician that digital pianos with internal speaker systems do not have. 

The person playing that stage type digital piano will also need to hear it up close near the piano, so they would also need stage monitors putting out the sound next to them so they can hear it better. For most people portable playing digital pianos recreationally who do not play regularly in big venues, stage digital pianos are generally not necessary and a regular portable digital piano with an internal speaker system is the way to go. 

An exception to that is if you have a home or pro recording studio and you want many “pro” features, functions, and sounds in the digital piano for recording purposes that a regular portable digital piano may not have. 

Also, in a home or pro recording studio you will likely already have external monitors (2 good monitors can easily cost $700 on up) that would take care of all the sound in that studio including coming from that digital piano/keyboard. At that point a pro quality “stage” digital piano could be the best option for you and then the importance for a good internal speaker system in a digital piano would be irrelevant.

However, in the Yamaha Clavinova CLP-745 digital piano, which sells for $3700, that model has 4 amplifiers with a total of 200 watts going through 4 speakers. Two of those speakers in the CLP-745 measure 6.2″ each to help carry the bass frequencies, and the other 2

speakers measuring 3.1″ each help carry the higher end treble frequencies. The speakers and amps are also higher quality and they have much better internal placement in the Clavinova CLP-745.

When you have more and better speakers and more and better amplification in a digital piano, along with better speaker placement in that model, it is going to sound more like a real piano. Also, that upgraded sound system will likely improve the frequency response and dynamics of the piano sound and you’ll also likely get a lot more bass response, which is a good thing.

So with all that being said, here’s my rule of thumb for a better sound experience in a digital piano. In a portable digital piano, make sure it has at least 16 watts of power going through a minimum of  two 4″ speakers coming out near and/or on the top of the piano pointing towards you.

In a furniture cabinet digital piano make sure you have at least a minimum total of 40 watts of amplification power going through at least two 4.7″ speakers, and if possible, two smaller tweeter speakers to help carry the high end frequencies better. Some portable digital pianos I have played have 40 watts or more power in them, so they are very powerful and sound great with good bass response.

The thing that more amplifier power (wattage) does in a digital piano, especially in a furniture cabinet digital piano, is allow that piano to project its piano sound further with better tone and clarity and generally much better bass response as well. Furniture cabinet digital pianos that have just 12 or 16 watts of power are underpowered in my opinion and I have played those digital pianos and personally experienced them, and generally don’t like them. 

They typically sound anemic with low power and you have to turn up the master volume to maximum to get a better sound out of them, but then you can typically will get some distortion and they don’t sound full or resonant most of the time. 

The more speakers, amplifiers, and power in a digital piano, generally the better off you will be. There are some caveats to that equation, however. Let’s say a digital piano has slightly lower amplifier wattage power as compared to another digital piano in the same price range. But maybe that piano has more speakers and also better speakers in it. 

If the amplifier wattage difference between the 2 models is not that much, then the extra speakers and quality of the speakers and amps inside could make up for and surpass the slightly less amp wattage power. But it also depends on how big of an area in your home or venue you are trying to cover. You may not need that much power or bigger speaker size, but it can’t hurt to have it, just in case. So just keep that in mind when making a decision on how many speakers in the piano that you’ll want, how many power amps will be necessary, and how much overall power will work best for your situation. 

Also, the direction in which the internal speakers are pointing can have a lot to do with how you hear the sound and the impact those directional speakers will have on your piano playing experience. If the speakers are under the piano pointing down to the floor, then that would not be as good as the speakers pointing up along with speakers pointing towards you. A perfect example of 4 speakers with each pair pointing in different directions along with 4 separate amplifiers powering each speaker would be the Korg G1 Air at $1999. 

This Korg model has an internal speaker system at $1999 that surpasses many digital pianos up to about $3500. So when it comes to “price” in a digital piano, it’s still a relative thing when it has to do with the internal speaker system. A higher price in a digital piano does not always equate to a better internal speaker system over a lower price digital piano, although in many cases it does. You’ll just need to contact us when you are doing your “shopping” so that you make the right decision.

If the speakers in a digital piano are pointing upwards towards your ears or if there are 4 speakers in the piano (perhaps they are different sizes to handle different frequencies) with 2 pointing towards you and 2 pointing upward or even downward in that case, then that will make the sound dispersion more omni-directional which can be a very good thing. 

So there’s a lot that goes into the internal speaker system including the quality of the components themselves and the impact it can have on what you hear when playing the digital piano.

Below is chart of nearly all the top current 88-key digital pianos under $8000 that have internal speaker systems. I picked the price range under $8000 because that will cover most models out there from the top brands. There are a few other models above $8000 so if you want that info then please contact us. The prices listed for the upright or portable style digital pianos are in the matte finishes, although some of them are available in polished ebony and polished white finishes for more money. 

The baby grand style models by default come in the polished ebony finish. I am leaving out the secondary brands (Williams, Suzuki, Artesia, Donner, etc) that have relatively poor key actions, poor playability, and overall a noticeably more artificial piano playing experience as compared to these top 5 brands below.